Muhammad: Prophet ofWar
dem ocr acy , or soc ial ism , or com mun ism .""
In otherwords,Islam aloneguaranteessuc-
cess, and to abandon it brings failure.
Th e th eolog ic al co nnect ion betwe en
victo ry an d ob ed ie nc e an d de fe at an d
dis ob edi en c e wa s re in f or ce d af te r t he
Mu sl im victory at the Battle of the Trench in
- M u h am m a d a g ai n r ec e iv e d a
r e ve la t io n th at at tr ibu ted th e vic to ry to
All ah 's su pe rna t ur al in t er ve nt io n: '0 ye
wh o b el ie ve! Re m em be r Al la h' s f av or
un to yo u wh en there came against you
hosts. and We sentag ain st th em a gr ea t
wi n d an d ho st s ye could not see"(Qur'an
33:9).
PC M yt h:Weca n
ne go ti at ewith these people
Yet another key Islamic principle was for-
mu lat ed by ev en ts su rr ou nd in g th e Tr eaty
of Hudaybiyya. In 628, Muhammad had a
vis ion in whi ch beperf orme d a pil gr im ag e
to Mec ca— a pagan cu st om th at he
wan te d to ma ke part of Isl am , but had so
fa r been unable to do because of Quraysh
control of
th e ci ty. He di re ct ed Mu sl im s to pr ep ar e to ma keth e pi lg ri m ag e
to Mecc a, and advan ce d on th e ci ty wit h 1, 50 0 me n. Th e Qu ra ysh
me t him outsi de th e ci ty. an d th e tw o si des co nc lud ed a te n-yea r
tr uc e (h udn a) ,the treatyof Hudaybiyya.
The Muslims agreedtoreturn home without making the pilgrimage, and
the Quraysh would allow them to makethepilgrimage the following year.
Muhammad shocked his men by agreeing further to provisions that
Just Like Today:
Tsunamicalls for more Islam
After a tsunam i devas tatedthe
So ut h Pa ci f ic on De ce mb er 26 ,
2004, Australia and the United States
al on e pl ed gedmor e tha n one bil lio n
dollars in aid. Oil-soakedArab countries—
Saudi Arabia, Qatar,UAE, Kuwait. Algeria,
Bahrain,andLibya—madea combined
pl ed ge ofle ss th an on e-te nt h th is
amount.One reason for this:Islamic
teachers attributed the tsunami to the
sins committedby infidels and Muslims in
heavily Islamic Indonesia. As one Saudi
cleric said, "It happened at Christmas
when fornicators andcorrupt peoplefrom
all over the world come to commit forni-
cation and sexualperversion.""